


autumn afternoons

by mothicalcreatures



Category: The Terror (TV 2018)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Mushrooms, Other, Trans Character, but he's in a dress, james relationship with gender is unclear, queer friendships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-22
Updated: 2020-11-22
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:07:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,618
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27665183
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mothicalcreatures/pseuds/mothicalcreatures
Summary: The plan to spend some time out in the country for James’ health had been Francis’ idea initially. Then James had mentioned it off-handedly to Will during a visit and the next thing he knew Will was sending him information about a little house on the edge of a quiet village where James and Francis would have neighbors “of like mind.”
Relationships: Captain Francis Crozier/Commander James Fitzjames
Comments: 4
Kudos: 21
Collections: The Terror Bingo (2020), Trans Terror Week





	autumn afternoons

**Author's Note:**

> This was neither of the things I planned to write for Trans Terror Week and also not what my original plan for Terror Bingo prompt was either. This started as the prompt "Dining Room" and ended as the prompt "Hammock." 
> 
> Thank you to @tulliolaciceronis for the beta and for once the title isn't from any song lyric as I wrote this while primarily listening to Animal Crossing music, because the premise of this fic was 100% inspired by the fact that you can now run around and collect mushrooms which has been the high point of my days for the month of November.

James swung his legs over the edge of the bed and shakily pulled himself to his feet. The pain in his leg seemed less than it had been yesterday—the effects of the fresh country air perhaps being to work at last—but it was still a struggle to hobble the three feet to his wash basin and then stay upright for the time it took to clean himself up.

The plan to spend some time out in the country for James’ health had been Francis’ idea initially. Then James had mentioned it off-handedly to Will during a visit and the next thing he knew Will was sending him information about a little house on the edge of a quiet village where James and Francis would have neighbors “of like mind.” James had been rather anxious about what Will had meant by that, but upon arrival to look at the house they were introduced to said neighbors and it all became rather clear. Their nearest neighbor was Jules, a young man who for all intents and purposes lived as a woman, and in the village proper lived two women, Lily and Cat, who considered themselves married. Lily, the more outwardly feminine of the two, was the town’s midwife and doctor, and Cat, who went about in trousers and referred to herself as Lily’s husband, worked at the butcher shop. James wasn’t entirely sure what Jules did, but he suspected that she might be an artist of some sort. 

Francis still wasn’t sure how he felt about them, but James found them pleasant enough company and they were very understanding about the fact that it was simply impossible for Francis and James to be so apparent.

“The other townsfolk are quiet about their prejudices if they haven’t already had them dispelled,” Cat had said one day, having come over to help James set up a small vegetable garden. “There wasn’t a local doctor until Lily and I arrived, and since she kept the reverend’s daughter from dying in childbirth and he vouched for our ‘usefulness’ we’ve hardly had any trouble. Besides,” she’d continued, “you and Captain Crozier are so well-known no one would even consider you might have ‘deviant’ tendencies. Don’t you know no public figure has ever loved their own sex?”

“Of course,” James had replied, mock solemnly. “Only Alexander the Great, William Shakespeare, King James…”

Part of James’ determination to get about on his own this morning was because Lily and Cat had invited him and Francis to go forage for mushrooms in the nearby woods and James desperately wanted to prove to himself that he could walk unaided just fine so he didn’t wind up holding everyone back. Unfortunately, that didn’t seem to be proving the case as he barely made it back to his bed before his leg gave way beneath him.

James swore as he collapsed onto his bed, feeling the beginnings of frustrated tears pressing behind his eyes. Thankfully, he was kept from spiraling into dark thoughts by Francis knocking on his door.

“James? Are you awake?”

“Yes,” James croaked and Francis pushed the door open.

He frowned seeing James sprawled out on the bed. “Are you all right?”

“As ever,” James muttered. “My leg felt better, so thought I could get up and get dressed on my own. I made it to the wash basin.”

“An improvement then,” Francis said, making his way over to James’ wardrobe. “If you spend the rest of the morning resting your leg, you might be able to walk some while we’re out later. We’ll bring your cane.”

That was a far more positive outlook than what James had thought, but it was true enough, he supposed. He levered himself up, sitting on the edge of the bed once more. “I think I’d like to wear a dress out today.”

The dress and accompanying pinafore that James wore had been a gift from Jules after James had asked if he might try on one of Jules’ dresses—as it had seemed to him that they might fit better than a dress designed to be worn by a woman. He had been right; the dress Jules had gifted him fit far better than anything James had previouslyworn, even before it was tailored for him.

The dress itself was a soft cream color that was lightly striped through with a darker shade, while the pinafore was dark brown with yellow detail and two large pockets. Francis had helped him to dress and kept James from second-guessing himself about wearing a dress out of the house, by reminding him that no one would see the dress for James’ coat and the blanket over his legs. Still, the nerves had remained buzzing in the back of his head as they headed out to meet with the others.

“You are perfectly disguised,” Jules assured him as they made their way toward the edge of the woods behind Jules home. “No one would guess. Though I’ll admit to being impatient to see everything; I’m sure you look lovely.”

James smiled. “Thank you. I… it’s a lovely dress, I really can’t thank you enough.”

“Think nothing of it, darling,” Jules said, adjusting the basket she had slung over her arm. “You know, my offer still stands to order some dresses for you if you decide you want more than just my hand-me-downs.”

“I’ll think about it, thank you, but this is still rather a lot for me,” James admitted. “Slightly more daunting than putting on a costume for a play.”

Jules laughed. “Certainly is, will it help it if I say it gets easier?”

“I don’t know. There are so many complicating factors for me, I suppose only time will tell.” The Navy and the Admiralty were ever present specters hanging over James. He might be retired now, but he was not gone from the public eye and neither was Francis.

“We do have time now,” Francis said, rubbing James shoulder briefly before returning his hand to the handle of his chair. “And a town that likely won’t bother us if they begin to suspect something.”

“They might already, you know.” James looked over to see that Lily had fallen into step next to them. “Two bachelors, moving into a house together in a town already full of queers?”

There was a sharp intake of breath from Francis, and James reached back to rest a hand over Francis’. “If people have assumptions, they can have them—its circumstance only.”

Francis huffed. “And you were the one fretting earlier about going out in a dress.”

“That’s different, that _would_ be damning evidence, but us living together is not.” James could feel himself beginning to get flustered; he didn’t want this to turn into a fight. Not here. Not when they were supposed to have such a pleasant, easy day ahead of them.

“Easy James,” Francis murmured. “I only meant to tease.” He let go of the handle of James’ chair again to squeeze his hand. “I didn’t mean to make light of things for you.”

James sagged back. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologize, especially not for something that’s not your fault.”Francis pressed a kiss to the top of James’ head and James sighed.

“If it’s anyone’s fault it’s mine,” Lily said. “I shouldn’t have said anything, you’ve said before how… precarious and new this is for you.”

They were interrupted then by Cat calling out for them to hurry up from where was leaning against a tree at the head of a thin path at the forest’s edge.

Lily rolled her eyes and Jules laughed.

“We can’t all walk as fast as you,” Francis called.

“You know,” James began, prompting Francis to groan and mutter, “Here we go…”

“I was once the best walker in the service…”

“This is where I have consistently found the best mushrooms,” Jules said, leading them into a small clearing. “Well, not here precisely, but it’s the perfect spot to drop your things while you scour the surrounding woods.”

“Also a perfect place to drop me,” James said, and Cat shoved him.

“We’re not going to _leave_ you,” she said. “Besides, didn’t you say you would be able to walk with some rest?”

“I said maybe,” James replied.“But since Francis so wisely insisted on me coming in my chair, I have free rein to overexert myself hobbling about looking for mushrooms.”

“You most certainly do not!” Francis groused, bringing James’ chair to a rather forceful stop, but James just laughed.

“I’ll go easy on myself Francis, but I don’t want you hovering.”

Francis sighed, but said nothing more as James began to lever himself up out of the chair, instead focusing on keeping the chair steady for him.

Pain twinged up his leg the moment James put pressure on it, but it wasn’t as overwhelming as it had been in the morning and once he retrieved his cane, he was able to walk tolerably without too much pain.

“Well, I was right about you looking lovely in that dress,” Jules said, stepping forward to take James’ free arm, and being able to brace himself against Jules brought even further relief.

“Why don’t we set up here while you take James out to forage for a bit?” Lily suggested. “Take advantage of his feeling well.”

“What is there to set up?” Francis asked, and James found himself curious as well, but Lily was already spreading a blanket on the ground, and Cat was pulling things out of the large basket Jules had brought, so there was some work still to do, certainly.

James let Jules steer him away from the center of the clearing. “So, what do we look for? When we’re looking for good spots to find mushrooms.”

James did not last near as long as he would have liked, but at the same time he was hardly displeased with the amount of mushrooms they’d found, particularly for James’ first time at it. The pockets of James pinafore were overflowing as were Jules’ and she lamented that they’d left before her basket had been emptied out.

“Well, I don’t know how much longer I could have managed before you’d have had to go get Francis to carry me back,” James admitted.

Jules tutted, tightening her grip on James’ arm. “James, you should have said something sooner.”

James shook his head lightly. “I’m all right, really. Nothing some rest won’t fix and I’m anticipating a very comfortable set up when we get back to the clearing.”

Jules was still frowning, but she didn’t press further as they carefully picked their way through the leafy detritus. That they were moving so slowly was for James’ benefit—he’d nearly tripped and fallen when his cane had caught on a root earlier—but they made it back to the others before long and were greeted with rather more set up than James had expected.

James had known that a picnic was planned, but he’d thought it would be a rather simple affair; a blanket to sit on and something light to eat. However, while the food was rather simple there was enough for a proper meal and there was a coffee pot being warmed by a small fire. What James had assumed to be a blanket earlier turned out to be a large hammock, where Lily and Cat were currently cuddled up together while Francis was prodding at the fire with a stick. A different blanket that had been spread out for the food on the ground and James’ own blanket had been folded neatly on the seat of his chair.

“Is this your usual ‘set up’?” James asked and Jules laughed.

“It’s not usually quite so lavish. The hammock’s new, courtesy of Lily, but we do bring dinner most of the time.”

“And we’ve had to bring more food cause our little group’s gotten bigger!” Cat called, the hammock swaying as she sat up. “But Sir Francis has been a wonderful help. We usually make do with cold coffee, but he wouldn’t have it.”

“I had matches,” Francis muttered. “And we would have brought something if you’d told us.”

Jules helped James over to his chair, moving his blanket out of the way so that he could sit down. “You can bring something next time.”

“We certainly will,” Francis said, grunting as he got to his feet. “Was your hunt successful?”

“It was a good start,” Jules said, placing what they had collected into her now empty basket. “But only the beginning.”

Cat climbed out of the hammock and helped Lily out after her. “Will you join us this time Sir Francis?”

“I think I’ll stay back with James until he’s got his feet under himself again,” Francis said.

James rolled his eyes. “I’ll be fine Francis.”

“I’m sure you will be, but I could to with resting my legs after the walk here,” Francis said. “So I’ll let you young people go run after mushrooms now and give it a go later myself.”

“You know you didn’t have to stay here with me,” James said once Jules, Cat and Lily had headed back out, with the basket this time.

Francis sighed. “I know, but I didn’t come to leave you alone. Here, why don’t we get you into the hammock. It’ll be easier on your back and I can join you.”

“I do like the sound of that,” James said. Sitting, in his chair or just in general, for long hours often left him stiff and uncomfortable, and lying down was often preferable. “Can’t say I’ve ever seen a hammock that big.”

Francis snorted and held out a hand so James could haul himself up out of his chair. “Apparently it’s fashionable now among the wealthy elite in the States to have hammocks to lounge about in.”

“Oh?”

James meant to ask how Francis had learned that, but he set his foot down wrong and tripped forward into Francis. “That wasn’t even my bad leg,” he muttered as Francis took his arms to help him right himself.

“I don’t think the terrain is doing you any favors.”

“It’s deceptively flat until it’s not,” James said, but he managed not to lose his footing between his chair and the hammock, and Francis held it steady for him as he climbed in.

He let out a sigh of relief as he stretched himself out, only grimacing slightly when his back cracked.

“Comfortable?” Francis asked and James nodded.

“Very.”

“All right, hold still and I’ll get in too.”

Francis was not able to get in with as much grace as James, despite not having skirts to wrangle, and he all but tumbled in on top of James.

“Christ, James, I’m sorry, are you all right?”

James, who was doing his best not to laugh, managed to get out a “Fine,” before dissolving into giggles, and Francis followed not long after.

“Look at me,” Francis muttered, after they had settled comfortably side by side. “Spend my whole life at sea and I’ve forgotten how to climb into a hammock.”

“In your defense, it’s been a good while since you slept in one.” James leaned over to press a kiss to Francis’ cheek. “And I can’t imagine you’ve ever had to climb into one with someone else already in it.”

“Well, there was one time in Van Diemen’s Land,” Francis said, “but that was an even worse attempt that ended with Ross and myself on the floor.” 

James grinned and kissed Francis again. “Then I’d say we can call this an improvement.”

“And you’re sure I didn’t hurt you?”

James did not bother to answer, instead choosing to lean forward and kiss Francis properly instead.

**Author's Note:**

> As I mentioned this was Heavily Inspired by the shit I've been getting up to in Animal Crossing, so I did a lil photoshoot feat. Fitzjames and the "OCs" in the fic. 
> 
> [Here they are mushroom gathering](https://i.imgur.com/I0aCRsZ.jpg)  
> and  
> [Here they are enjoying the fruits of their labors.](https://i.imgur.com/NCTNk9w.jpg)


End file.
